


Snapshots of a War

by BlackCanine



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-25
Updated: 2017-09-25
Packaged: 2019-01-05 05:51:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12184140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlackCanine/pseuds/BlackCanine
Summary: A bit of speculation mixed with a hell of a lot of wishful thinking for theTeen Wolfseries finale.





	1. Kristallnacht

**Author's Note:**

> Some stuff I wrote for the series finale about what I wish happened on the show. Most of it, mostly the Thiam bits, I know there's little chance for it to happen, but some other stuff, like Lydia's mom role, Gerard's fate and Theo's redemption, I sure hope they get addressed in one way or another. Anyways, I'm just posting this and heading off to see the finale to have my heart crushed.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this story, let me know what you think as well as what you thought of the episode.
> 
> I do not own _Teen Wolf_ or any of its characters. There is no profit gained from writing or publishing this story.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A night of hate, intolerance and violence, and the role of an unexpected dark horse that changed everything.

If there was something that should be considered unnatural about Beacon Hills that night, it was the silence. Not a soul could be seen out on the streets but the lights at most homes were off too. It was almost as if everyone had packed up and left. But everyone in town knew that wasn’t the case.

Just because nobody was eating out or because the movie theaters, malls and bowling alleys were all deserted it didn’t mean there was nobody outside. It just meant people were being stealthy about being out.

Dozens and dozens of men and women rallied sneakily through the streets with their destinations clear in their minds. The list had been completed a few hours before and the instruction was not to leave a single place standing. The McCall household was at the top of the list but several other last names followed: the Martins, the Dunbars, the Tates, the Bryants… houses that belonged to werewolves, werecoyotes, wendigos, banshees, hellhounds; all of them meant to be destroyed and their inhabitants killed.

Mason had been right, it was like the German _Kristallnacht_ , it was intended to be the start of a genocide, with the town’s authorities, the people meant to protect Beacon Hills, looking on without intervening… in the best of cases.

The first shot was fired at the McCall residence. It was plainly obvious there was nobody home that night, and the place was already drilled with holes from the previous shooting, but the location had been picked as a message. From there, the rest of the houses on the list were shot and vandalized.

Bullets shattered every glass, bounced on every wall, wrecked furniture, picture frames and stairwells. It wasn’t until later in the night that one of the hunters noticed no casualties had been found.

“There’s no one home here either!” a deputy turned killer yelled. They were at the home of a reported family of werecoyotes. Gabe had informed their youngest was called Edgar and had been already killed by the Anuk-Ite, but the rest of his family still lived. Not in that house, it seemed.

“This is empty,” Gabe said, staring at the vacant fridge he’d just opened, “this place’s been empty for days.”

“I just talked on the radio to another deputy, the house around the corner is empty too,” a deputy informed Gabe and Monroe, who was assessing the situation with her permanent I-know-it-all smirk plastered on her face. It was all an act though, as they had all been apparently outsmarted but she had no idea how. She somehow doubted even Gerard knew.

“What do we do?” the deputy asked Monroe.

“Burn the place to the ground. If they really left, make sure they have nothing to come back to,” she instructed coldly before walking out of the empty house with firm steps, Gabe trailing solicitously behind her.

“Where do you think everybody went?” Gabe asked Monroe.

“Where scared animals always go,” Monroe smirked, “underground.”

 

They didn’t, though. Or at least, not the people they expected. The McCall pack was down in the tunnels, which made Monroe grin with elation. The beta was there, so were his human friend and the invisible boy. The homeless kid was there too. But soon they realized not that many of their targets were present in the darkness of the tunnels. Only the McCall pack. This time the pack had herded the hunters down there, not the other way around.

 

Houses were burned and cars were ransacked but not a single casualty at the hands of hunters yet. So far, the only victims of that night had been petrified corpses the real supernatural threat in town was leaving behind. Monroe was getting desperate.

Deep into the woods, however, a soundproof studio was filled to the brim with supernatural creatures, all huddled inside a lake house nobody had thought to target. At least not yet.

“Does anybody need a blanket?” Natalie Martin said to the crowd inside the dark room, carrying a large pile of blankets and sheets.

“Thank you,” a woman said, taking one and wrapping it around her scared kid.

“I’m afraid,” the boy whispered.

“I know,” his mother said, “but we’re safe here.”

“You are,” a man in doctor scrubs confirmed. The woman looked at him warily as she took in his clothes and the nametag with the word “Geyer” pinned on his chest.

“You’re a doctor,” the woman said in surprise, “but you aren’t out there killing us.”

“My son is one of you, but even if he weren’t, I became a doctor to save lives, not to take them,” Dr. Geyer replied.

“Is your son out there fighting?” the woman asked.

“He is, and from what I’ve been told about his pack, they always win,” Geyer answered firmly.

“Do you think they’re okay?” Natalie asked.

“There’s no way to know right now, but I think somehow we’d know if they had lost,” Geyer replied.

“They are alright,” a blonde woman said taking Dr. Geyer’s hand, “we know our son, he doesn’t give up.” Dr. Geyer squeezes his wife’s hand to reassure her, “I only wish we had known the kind of battles he was fighting sooner.”

“I wish _I_ had done something sooner,” Natalie sighs wistfully, “the list with all these people’s names sat on my desk for far too long. If somebody had found it …”

“You’re doing something now,” Geyer told her, and Natalie knew it was true. She also knew her initial detachment was what made bringing everybody to her lake house possible. She was the dark horse Gerard hadn’t been expecting.

“Let’s just hope it’s enough,” Natalie said, wishing with all her might she could have a fraction of the abilities that ran through her ex husband’s family, that way she would have a way to know if her daughter and her friends were doing alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really hope Natalie Martin plays a role in the final episode, not only because it was set up in the 6B premiere, but because it's about freaking time she does something.


	2. But I do care!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mason and Theo find themselves back at the tunnels and once again, Mason has to remind Theo you can't take pain if you don't care. Theo wants to scream he does care, and this time he does scream.

The fight had somehow moved back to the tunnels. Theo cursed under his breath at the way all roads seemed to lead to the same underground hell. The intricate maze of concrete and steel now reeked with the accumulated smell of death, blood, sweat, gunpowder and despair that had been racking up in layers since the night Gerard murdered Brett and Lori.

They had herded the hunters (or the hunters had herded them, Theo wondered at times) there and they got separated trying to navigate the tunnels. Once again Theo found himself alone with Mason, who was too busy dodging projectiles of all kinds to distrust his companion this time. The hunters had apparently stopped caring if their target was supernatural or not. In their eyes humans like Mason, Stiles, the Sheriff or Argent had all become fair game now.

“This way!” Theo screamed at Mason, who ducked and crossed a tunnel to get to where Theo stood, immediately laying his back against the cold wall, his hand grabbing firmly the metallic bat Stiles had left him all those weeks before.

“They’re closing in from all directions,” Mason panted, “there’s no way left to go.”

“I can hear less heartbeats this way,” Theo replied pointing to a tunnel that led further into the maze, right to where the Anuk-Ite had once dwelled. Trying to get his rising fear in check, Mason spoke.

“I think there’s a reason for that.”

“Right now, I’m kinda more afraid of the hunters behind us that whatever stench the Anuk-Ite left behind,” Theo reasoned, but he also had trouble keeping his legs from shaking.

“Yes, you’re right,” Mason agreed, mostly trying to convince himself.

“The fear we’re feeling will affect the hunters too, it will slow them down but we have to be faster,” Theo urged.

“Braver. We have to be braver,” Mason corrected steeling himself, “let’s go.”

They ran further into the blackness of the tunnel. At one point Theo had to grab Mason’s hand and lead the blind human using his supernatural vision. Still, Mason never slowed down the pace of his steps. Theo couldn’t help feeling a mad respect at the human’s courage. Many stronger creatures of the night would have faltered by now.

Behind them, they could hear steps and gunshots, which only made the imaginary fear caused by the Anuk-Ite’s long-gone presence less real. Suddenly, the pair got to an open area that was dimly lit by a ray of light coming from above.

“An air vent,” Mason said, looking up.

“That’s really high, there’s no way we can reach the top before they catch up to us and we’ll be sitting ducks as we climb,” Theo pointed out. The steps kept getting closer. “This is it, Mason. We’re gonna have to fight.”

“And kill,” Mason said, his disapproval clear in his voice despite the exhaustion and the fear.

“It’s not murder when it’s self-defense. They don’t care you’re just a human teenage boy, they won’t hesitate to put a bullet in your head. You wanna stay alive? You’re gonna have to ram that bat of yours against their heads first,” Theo countered.

It was just being rational about the situation, Theo told himself, trying to ignore the feeling in his gut that told him that taking a life today, even if it was from someone that was trying to kill him, would most likely shatter whatever shot at redemption he had left, whatever slim chance he still had to avoid returning to Hell with his sister.

Mason seemed to have arrived to the same conclusion as Theo, holding his bat high in the air. Theo knew the boy would try to avoid killing anyone, but at least he looked resolute enough to fight for his life.

“Alright, then,” Mason said at last, “so we fight, but we need a plan. They outnumber us and they have guns.”

“If the stench of fear is affecting them as much as it’s affecting us maybe we can scare them enough to make them useless,” Theo suggested just as the hunters turned to where they were. Before they could fire, though, Theo shifted and let out a deafening roar. Mason turned to the chimera, whose eyes shone bright in the darkness of the tunnels. He looked the spitting image of a demonic entity, and combined with the mighty roar it was enough to make the frightened hunters recoil. There was even the sound of some guns being dropped by clumsy shaking hands. That was the boys’ cue.

Theo surged forward and began slashing at the hunters. Being the only one in the area with supernatural sight, his strikes were the most accurate. He went for the arms and the legs, trying to disarm as many hunters as possible without killing anyone. He briefly wondered when he started caring about those things. Behind him, Mason swung his bat at the injured hunters, mostly aiming to the stomach to knock the air out of them. Every once in a while Theo let out a wild roar. That was their most effective resource, as it paralyzed all the humans in sheer panic, except for Mason who barely batted an eyelash at the sound. It all played in their favor for once: the darkness, the fear, the isolation; it all affected the hunters more than Theo and Mason. Most of them were left unconscious or badly injured, which allowed the two boys to go back to where they came from.

They counted their chickens too quickly. An injured hunter had still enough in him to drag himself to one of the fallen guns and aim it at the two moving silhouettes. Theo heard the trigger only instants before it was pulled.

“Get down!” he shouted, throwing himself at Mason and shoving the two of them around a corner. Theo barely registered a faint burn on his arm. Mason’s head hit the wall with enough force it made Theo worried, but the boy was still breathing, though his eyes were closing as if he were drowsy.

“Hey, Mason, don’t fall asleep,” Theo urged the other boy, shaking him a bit, but Mason’s eyes were unfocused and he most likely hadn’t heard him. An instant later he emptied the contents of his stomach right over Theo’s shoes. A concussion, Theo realized.

“Hey, hey,” Theo repeated, “slapping Mason on the face, stay awake.”

“My head hurts,” Mason mumbled, closing his eyes again.

“Hey, don’t close them!” Theo urged desperately. As the seconds passed and the adrenaline faded away, Theo became more and more aware of the bullet that had grazed his bicep, and though it hadn’t penetrated the skin, it had been laced with enough wolfsbane to prevent it from healing. It stung like a bitch.

“Alright, let’s do something about the pain, then,” Theo said, mostly to the silence of the tunnel, and placed his hand on the bump on Mason’s forehead. To his increasing frustration nothing happened.

The touch was enough to wake Mason up, though.

“I told you,” he wheezed feebly, “you can’t take pain if you don’t care.”

“But I do care!” Theo shouted, his voice echoing in the darkness. In his weakened state, Mason still found it in himself to chuckle.

“No, you don’t,” he croaked.

“Then why don’t I fucking leave you to die and save myself, then? Huh?” Theo spat angrily, “there are no spectators here, no one to play hero for, I just — I just want — I don’t want anymore deaths, alright?” He pressed his hand more strongly against Mason’s forehead. “Why doesn’t it work? Dammit!”

He was nearly crying in desperation now, but still nothing happened. Mason closed his eyes again and began to doze off.

“No, don’t do that. Stop it!” Theo yelled, on the verge of tears now. “I FUCKING CARE IF YOU DIE!”

It happened so suddenly it almost knocked the air out of Theo. A sharp jolt of pain coursed through his arm and filled his body like his veins were some sort of irrigation system for it. With his coyote eyes he could see the black roadmap on his forearm signaling the pain running through it. A loud intake of breath let him know Mason had woken up.

“What’s going on?” Mason asked, confused.

“I took your pain,” Theo mumbled, dumbfounded by the occurrence but also overwhelmed by an emotion he couldn’t describe but that brought tears to his eyes, “I took your pain away.”

“Liam told me he cried the first time he did it too,” Mason said, “he said nearly every wolf does.”

Theo was still looking at his hand in wonder, tears clouding his vision, but the urgency of the situation came back to him and he looked at Mason dead in the eyes.

“I didn’t heal you, I only took your pain, you still have a concussion. I did my part, now do yours and don’t fall asleep while I get both of us out of here, okay?”

“Okay,” Mason agreed and tried to free himself from Theo, who hadn’t let him go since he shoved him against the wall. And it’s Theo’s embrace what prevents him from falling down when he tries to walk.

“I think something’s wrong with my foot, though I don’t really feel it now because you took my pain,” Mason assessed.

“Come on, I’ll carry you, but stay awake, you promise?” Theo said.

“I promise,” Mason answered as Theo hoisted him up and carried him over his shoulder. Mason’s pain combined with the wound on his arm made all his body hurt like a bitch, but Theo couldn’t focus on that, not if he wanted both of them to make it out of the tunnels alive. There was one thing that helped him, though. He had proved, mostly to himself, that he did care, and at that moment, that was enough to make him put one foot in front of the other.


	3. This is for Brett and Lori

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gerard is a firm believer of killing loved ones to weaken enemies. He never learned that only strengthens them.

They made it out of the tunnels but the fight was still going strong. Gerard and Monroe had herded them to an abandoned industrial zone the hunters knew very well, which gave them all the advantage. The two heads of the hunting party were rubbing their hands at the prize before them: Scott McCall’s beta, alone and cornered on a corridor on the third floor of a warehouse.

“Your time’s up, little wolf,” Monroe told Liam with a smirk, “time to put you and the rest of you rabid dogs down.” Monroe lifted her gun and aimed it at Liam but she was shoved to the side by an invisible force. Corey, Liam realized. Gerard turned to Liam and raised his gun, his face twisting into a nasty grimace.

Liam only had a fraction of a second to react, he launched himself to the banister rail to dodge the bullet, then he used the rail to surge towards Gerard and try to disarm him. The gun was thrown far away but Gerard was now holding a knife laced with so much wolfsbane that it assaulted Liam’s nostrils. Liam realized completely disarming Gerard would be nearly impossible. All he could do was try to get away and avoid the blade at all costs.

Liam shifted and snarled at Gerard, who smirked as he waved his knife at him.

“Getting angry, are we?” Gerard taunted him, “careful, we don’t want mistakes like the one that cost you your friends’ lives.”

Liam knew Gerard was trying to make him lose control, that it would make him easier to hunt, so he tried his damnedest to keep his temper in check. But the sight of Brett and Lori lying inert on the pavement kept flashing before his eyes.

 _The sun, the moon, the truth_ , he thought, _the sun, the moon, the truth_. It wasn’t really working, not while he was trying to restrain himself and at the same time to keep an eye on the blade of Gerard’s knife.

“Liam, the hunters are rigging the warehouses with explosives, we need to get out of here now,” Corey’s voice told him in. Liam had no idea where the other boy was, but he was close enough for him to hear his whispered warning. “I’m getting you out of there,” Corey said and all of a sudden Gerard spun violently, brandishing his knife on the air. Corey was immediately rendered visible after the blade cut through his arm.

“Corey!” Liam exclaimed in distress.

“You walk like an elephant, chameleon boy,” Gerard mocked, “I could hear you coming a mile away.”

Corey and Liam traded looks for an instant, and it was all they needed to communicate. In one synchronized motion, they both launched themselves at Gerard, shoving him against the banister that separated them from a three-story fall.

Gerard tried to break free of them or to get of one of his weapons out, but he was no match for the strength of a werewolf and a chimera.

“I know Scott said no killing …” Corey said.

At that moment an explosion in the next-door warehouse made the floor beneath them shake, forcing them to let go of Gerard to maintain their balance. Liam pushed Corey away from the rail, but the impulse of the motion and the force of the explosion made Gerard fall over the rail and he was barely able to hold on to it from the other side to keep from falling, but now was hanging three stories up, held only by the strength of his arms. Liam looked at Gerard and grimaced in disgust.

“Scott said no killing, but he never said anything about no saving,” he said, as he watched Gerard’s hands slowly slipping from the rail.

“Help me up!” Gerard growled at the boys, his hands slowly losing grip. He was apparently not above begging for help to the teenagers he had just tried to kill when faced with imminent death. Liam and Corey didn’t move a muscle, though.

“This is for Brett and Lori,” Liam spat.

A second explosion made the warehouse tremble. Gerard’s fingers finally let go of the rail and the hunter plunged to his death. The sound of bones cracking let Liam and Corey know the eldest of the Argent family was finally gone.

“Come on,” Corey urged Liam, “Monroe got away and once they realize Gerard’s dead, they won’t hesitate to blow up this warehouse too.”

Liam peeked down to stare at Gerard’s dead body before letting himself be pulled by Corey. The question of whether he had just become as bad as the hunters drilling in his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what kind of death the show has in store for Gerard, but I hope it's a rather mundane one. Nothing spectacular. He deserves to be killed by his own hate.


	4. Barely even human

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just as Scott is about to cross a line that will change him forever, Theo reflects about redemption. Both for others and for himself.

When Theo found Scott, the Alpha was pushing a bloody Nolan to the wall of one of the warehouses.

“Scott, what are you doing? Stop!” Theo yelled, horrified by the sight of the True Alpha finally giving into his most basic instincts. It was a picture that would make lesser men quake in their boots.

“What do you want, Theo?” Scott snarled, not letting go of his hold on the terrified boy’s throat.

“You’re killing him,” Theo said.

“That’s the idea,” Scott grunted.

It was so unlike Scott that Theo actually balked. He had no idea how to handle Scott when all his restraint was gone. The Anuk-Ite had been killed but the war kept going. Scott had been wrong, the Anuk-Ite hadn’t been the cause of all the violence and hate. It seemed it was simply human nature. Acknowledging that fact seemed to be, more than anything else, what finally broke the True Alpha. His hope in human kind seemed to have been the only thing holding his moral compass together and now that moral compass was shattered.

“Scott, you don’t know what you’re saying,” Theo tried to reason, getting increasingly scared. He didn’t know why, but he knew he had to stop Scott from killing Nolan at all costs. Maybe he suspected that the second Scott took a life he would become a destructive force that would put Peter, Deucalion and Theo at their worst to shame. The mere thought of it was almost paralizingly terrifying.

“Sure I do,” Scott argued, “he shot my house, he put my mom and dad in the hospital. And Lydia and Mason.”

“It wasn’t him, Scott, Gabe told that to Monroe but it was Gabe who shot your house.”

“It doesn’t matter. He started everything, he exposed Corey to everyone, he helped turn people against us,” Scott countered. His grip on Nolan’s neck was getting tighter, and Theo didn’t know how long it would take before the boy finally suffocated.

“I just took Mason’s pain today,” Theo blurted, the gears in his brain turning frantically to come up with a way to slow Scott down.

“So what?” Scott asked confused, not knowing what Theo was trying to say.

“It was the first time I ever did something like that. I tried the other day but it didn’t work. Mason said it was because I didn’t care,” Theo explained urgently. “Mason said everyone cries the first time, and I gotta tell you, he’s not wrong.”

“Are you trying to tell me you care about people now? Good for you,” Scott growled, his claws slowly piercing the skin on Nolan’s neck.

“It’s not the first time you see this happening, is it?” Theo asked, “a young kid, manipulated by older people, turned into a monster he wasn’t meant to be. Don’t forget, I researched all your history before approaching you.”

“Your point?” Scott barked.

“Didn’t Derek recruit Isaac to kill Lydia? And Deucalion turned the twins into killing machines. And you know what the Dread Doctors did with me.”

“You were rotten way before the Dread Doctors,” Scott spat and it stung, because his words agreed with the voice that told Theo day in day out that he had always been fucked up, that it hadn’t been the Dread Doctors, it had been all him.

“But Isaac came around didn’t he? And so did the twins and even Deucalion,” Theo continued, ignoring the ache in his gut at Scott’s remark.

“And now you? You want a gold star on your forehead now?” Scott asked.

“You once said I was barely even human,” Theo said softly.

“And I stand by it,” Scott declared.

“You said I was barely even human but today I cared enough to take someone else’s pain. He’s just a scared kid Scott, in the wrong place at the wrong time. If I was able to do something good today, something human, don’t you think Nolan can turn himself around?” Theo pleaded, “surely he can’t be worse than me.”

“I don’t care,” Scott exclaimed, his voice on the verge of breaking and tears clouding his eyes, “he’s part of the reason this whole thing started.”

“You still don’t want to be the one who kills him,” Theo countered.

“Yes I do,” Scott replied.

“You know this will hunt you for the rest of your life. You’ve never killed anyone before, even if they deserved it. And you know this kid deserves it way less than any of the others. Way less than me.”

“I don’t care anymore. I don’t — I don’t want to care anymore,” Scott admitted at last, defeated.

“The less we feel the less we are, Scott. Take it from someone who took years to care about something other than himself.”

“I just want all this to end,” Scott pleaded.

“It won’t end with you killing Nolan, you know it won’t,” Theo tried to reason, and while Scott’s claws weren’t piercing Nolan’s neck anymore, his hand was still around the boy’s throat, not letting go a single inch.

“Think of Liam. He looks up to you. I’ve seen him break his hand to stop himself from smashing this kid’s face, think of what it’ll do to Liam if you kill him,” Theo pleaded.

That more than anything is what seemed to do the trick with Scott. With a loud roar he let go of Nolan’s neck, throwing him to the ground.

“Run,” Scott growled at the bloodied kid, who was too busy freaking out to get back on his feet.

“Come on, Scott, they’re rigging the warehouses with explosives. We need to find Liam and the others before they blow us up,” Theo said, pulling a reluctant Scott away from Nolan. “And you, get your ass far away from here.”

Nolan’s brain finally connected with the rest of his body and the boy scrambled to his feet and ran to the far exit of the warehouse. When they’re left alone Scott stared at Theo, scrutinizing him like he was a puzzle he just couldn't figure out.

“Thank you,” Scott said earnestly.

“I should be thanking you for making me care,” Theo replied, “but I won’t ‘cause caring sucks.”

Scott laughs.

“It’s worth it too, you’ll see,” he promised Theo, “come on.”

They both make it out of the warehouse just in time to see the first explosion going off.


	5. You don't have to stop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Theo never left Hell, not really. He visits it every night. He mostly accepts it, it's the price to pay for carrying someone else's heart. That is until Liam has something to say about it.

They all slept at the Hewitt’s household after the war was over. Most of the pack’s houses were in ruins and only the ones belonging to the humans prevailed. No parent was in the dark about the supernatural anymore, and Mason’s parents, while freaking out the whole time, allowed their house to be a safe haven for the battered wolves and chimeras.

The Sheriff had also volunteered his house, but Scott hadn’t wanted to split the pack up, so that left them with Mason’s room and his family’s guestroom to accommodate everyone.

“This should be big enough for the two of you,” Mason said to Liam and Theo, pointing at the air mattress next to his bed.

Mason and Corey took the bed. Scott, Stiles, Lydia, Malia and Derek all huddled together in the room next door. Malia had been against Theo being there but Liam and Mason had been adamant and Scott did his best to placate her. He wasn’t so vocal about it, but he didn’t want Theo out on the streets either.

“We should sleep. We have a long day ahead tomorrow,” Mason said “Lydia’s mom says all the supernaturals are safe, but there’s a lot to rebuild before things go back to normal.”

Nobody disagreed. They went to bed but hours went by before any of them could fall asleep. And when Liam finally did, he was jolted awake by a loud noise drumming in his ears.

It was Theo, Liam realized. His heart was beating so loud it was sure to wake up every person with supernatural hearing in a five block radius.

“Theo,” Liam whispered, “Theo! Wake up!”

The beta shook the chimera, but to no avail. There was no waking the other boy up. Theo was shivering and on occasion a whimper would escape his lips. Liam didn’t have to be a genius to know his bedmate was having a nightmare.

“Theo, come on, wake the fuck up!” Liam said again, shaking him while trying not to wake the others up.

Nothing worked, Theo was still fast asleep but trembling like he was having a panic attack in his dream. Weighing his options, Liam decided to risk doing something he had only seen Scott and Peter do. He reached behind Theo’s neck and plunged his claw inside the skin he found there.

 

Liam was no longer in Mason’s bedroom. He was at the hospital morgue. He looked around for another person but the room was deserted. Suddenly a loud bang alerted him of somebody else’s presence. One of the drawers burst open revealing a distressed-looking Theo. Theo climbed out of the bed and looked around in panic. When his eyes settled on Liam he freaked out even more.

“What are you doing here?” Theo asked alarmed.

“You weren’t waking up,” Liam answered.

“That doesn’t explain…” Theo trailed off when he heard it. The voice that began haunting him every time he woke up in that morgue.

“Theeeeeeeeooooooooo…”

“What is that?” Liam asked.

“You hear it too?”

“Of course I do, what is it?”

“Theeeeeeeeooooooooo…”

“It’s my sister,” Theo answered, tears flooding his eyes, “she’s coming for me.”

“Theeeeeeeeooooooooo…”

The door of the morgue burst open, and Tara’s rotten body barged inside.

“Theeeeeeeeooooooooo…”

“She wants her heart back,” Theo explained needlessly.

Tara approached Theo, completely ignoring Liam’s presence.

“That is my heart,” Tara said with a voice so eerie it made the hair on Liam’s neck stand.

“I’m sorry,” Theo sobbed.

“I want it back,” Tara said as she pierced the skin on Theo’s chest and ripped his heart right out of his body.

“Wait, NO!” Liam screamed before everything went black.

 

Liam was at the hospital morgue. He looked around for another person but the room was deserted. Suddenly a loud bang alerted him of somebody else’s presence. One of the drawers burst open revealing a distressed-looking Theo. Theo climbed out of the bed and looked around in panic. When his eyes settled on Liam he freaked out even more.

“What are you doing here?” Theo asked alarmed.

“I just told you, you weren’t waking up,” Liam answered.

“That doesn’t explain…” Theo began but trailed off when he heard the voice.

“Theeeeeeeeooooooooo…”

“You hear it too?”

“We’ve been through this,” Liam replied.

“Theeeeeeeeooooooooo…”

“It’s my sister. She’s coming for me.”

“Theeeeeeeeooooooooo…”

“Wait, how many times does this happen?” Liam asks, realization dawning on him. This happened every time Theo went to sleep.

The door of the morgue burst open, and Tara’s rotten body barged inside.

“Theeeeeeeeooooooooo…”

“She wants her heart back,” Theo explained needlessly.

Tara approached Theo, completely ignoring Liam’s presence.

“That is my heart,” Tara said with a voice so eerie it made the hair on Liam’s neck stand.

“I’m sorry,” Theo sobbed.

“Wait, stop,” Liam pleaded, “just stop!”

“I want it back,” Tara said, but before she could touch Theo’s chest Liam squeezed himself between the two siblings.

“Wait!” he pleaded.

“That is my heart!” Tara huffed, “it doesn’t belong to him.”

“It’s okay, Liam,” Theo said softly, “she doesn’t have to stop.”

“Like hell she does!” Liam shrieked.

“You heard her Liam, it’s not my heart,” Theo argued.

“You come back here every night?” Liam asked appalled.

“And I will come back here after I die. I came here to rot, remember?” Theo answered.

“I want my heart back,” Tara interrupted them, “it’s mine.”

“No, don’t —” Liam began but he was cut off by Theo putting a placating hand on his arm.

“You really can’t help me Liam,” Theo told him before turning to his sister. “It’s okay, you don’t have to stop.”

“No —” Liam gasped, but Tara shoved him out of the way.

“I’m sorry, Tara,” Theo whispered, “for everything.”

Those words made Tara balk. Her hand stays still an inch from Theo’s chest, shaking, but not moving forwards.

“You are?” Tara asked.

“I’ve been sorry for a long time,” Theo admitted, “I really didn’t want to do it, but the Dread Doctors …” he stopped to laugh at his own words. “Man, I really have to stop blaming the Dread Doctors for all the shit I’ve done. The Dread Doctors wanted me to take your heart, and I thought I didn’t have a choice but if there’s something I’ve learned in Beacon Hills, it’s that there’s always a choice, it’s just not always the easiest one. I’m sorry I didn’t make the right choice, Tara, I really am.”

“All this time, you’ve never said that,” Tara murmured.

“I am sorry for that too. You deserved to hear it.”

Tara turned her eerie eyes to Liam. The werewolf was surprised to find that though vacant, Tara’s eyes still conveyed a lot of emotion.

“Take him,” is all Tara said before backing off.

“Thank you,” Liam said, taking Theo’s hand. The second their hands connected everything went black.

 

Liam was no longer at the hospital morgue. He was in Mason’s bedroom. There is blood on his finger, proof that what he just witnessed actually happened. Next to him, Theo lied with his back to him pretending to be asleep, but his breathing pattern betrayed him.

“Theo …” Liam tried hesitantly.

“We don’t have to talk about it,” Theo replied curtly.

“But I want to,” Liam insisted.

“You saw what you saw, how much of an explanation you need?” Theo hisses angrily.

“I’m sorry you’ve been going through that,” Liam said.

“Don’t be. I deserve it,” Theo replied and scooted further away from Liam. The silence that followed stretched for several minutes, during which none of the boys even attempted to fall asleep. Luckily, Liam’s hearing informed him nobody else in the house was awake.

“You don’t,” Liam said at last to the silent room.


	6. Use it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite Liam's best intentions, Theo still finds himself in Hell, at the mercy of his sister. Only now his sister has a message for him.

The weeks went by and the people of Beacon Hills devoted their time to picking themselves up. There was a lot of reconstruction to be done, both physically, emotionally and socially. Things would never be the same as before, but that wasn’t necessarily an entirely bad thing. The pack tried to find small pockets of time to just be teenagers. Scott and Lydia got everything ready to finally go to college and the younger teens tried to finish school with as much normalcy as possible.

Part of that normalcy included videogame nights. Sometimes even Theo showed up, though he was always invited. His relationship with the pack had changed after the war. Liam and Mason were friendly towards him, Corey oscillated between being scared and accepting of him, Lydia had him on probation and Scott was welcoming but hesitant. Stiles and Malia were still hostile but they were so mostly out of habit.

A few weeks after the war, though, it was only Mason and Theo playing videogames sitting on the floor with their backs against the bed. Liam and Corey had gone out to buy snacks, but they had already taken their sweet time getting back.

“What’s taking them so long?” Theo asked, getting restless.

“Relax, they’re okay. Corey is only keeping him away so I can talk to you,” Mason tells him, not stopping for a second to fiddle with the controller. Theo raised his eyebrow at him.

“You want to have a talk with me,” Theo said skeptically, “and you waited until now to start.”

“Yep,” Mason replied unabashedly.

“Okay, what is this talk about?”

“You and Liam,” Mason answered simply.

“Me and Liam? What is that supposed to mean?” Theo asked puzzled.

“When are you going to stop being an idiot?” Mason asked him bluntly.

“Hey! I’ve been on my best behavior,” Theo argued defensively, “not only because I’m ‘on probation’ like Lydia likes to call it, but because I genuinely want to.”

“The thing is, if you ask me, Liam probably doesn’t want you to be on your best behavior,” Mason said grinning at him and wiggling his eyebrows, “at least not all the time … at least not with him, if you catch my drift.”

“No, I most certainly don’t catch your drift,” Theo replied annoyed, though deep down he knew he did catch Mason’s drift, but he sure as hell wasn’t going to discuss it with Mason. After all, saying it out loud would make it real.

“Then you and Liam are both dense, thick idiots,” Mason declared before turning his attention back to the game. Not a single word was spoken about the subject, and when Liam and Corey returned, it all seemed almost as normal as it had ever been… almost.

 

That night Theo went back to the morgue when he fell asleep. It had been weeks, almost enough to make him believe Tara had finally forgiven him, but alas, here he was, inside a hell built inside his head no sword could ever break him free from.

“Theeeeeeeeooooooooo…” Tara’s voice called from the distance. Theo gulped. How easy it was to get used to safety and comfort. After months of coming to this place every night in his sleep, Theo had gotten used to the heart-ripping routine. But now, after a few weeks of reprieve, he feared the pain that was about to come just like the first times he experienced it.

“Theeeeeeeeooooooooo…”

The door of the morgue burst open, and Tara’s rotten body barged inside.

“Hello, sis,” Theo said resigned with a pained smile, “good to see you again.”

Tara shoved Theo against the metallic doors of the drawers. Her finger hovered over Theo’s chest, but this time she didn’t push any further.

“This was my heart,” Tara said, her decrepit nail scratching the fabric over Theo’s skin, “but you took it.”

“I’m sorry,” Theo whimpers, “if I could permanently give it back, I would, I swear.”

“But you can’t,” Tara countered.

“I know, I’m sorry,” Theo sobbed.

“You took my heart, and you don’t even use it,” Tara spat bitterly.

“I — I what?” Theo asked confused.

“YOU TOOK MY HEART AND YOU DON’T EVEN USE IT!” Tara repeated in an angry bark. “I never knew what it’s like to love someone. I died before I could, you didn’t give me the chance,” Tara said.

“I’m sorry,” Theo repeated.

“Stop being sorry. You don’t fix anything. Use it!” Tara commanded.

“I CAN’T!” Theo cried. “I can’t.”

“Then give it back,” Tara said, her nail piercing through Theo’s skin.

“You don’t understand,” Theo pleaded, “caring for him means fearing for his life, for his safety. You don’t know what it feels like, fearing someone will kill him, or he’ll do something that will hunt him forever and destroy him. It was better when I only cared about myself, I didn’t have this constant fear about things I couldn’t fucking control!”

“So you’d rather be down here?” Tara asked, her voice full with contempt.

“Sometimes I think it was better when I was down here, before he rescued me. Getting your heart ripped out is torture, but at least I only feared for my life, not someone else’s.”

“Coward,” Tara spat angrily, “you may be reformed but you’re still a coward.”

“I guess it’s just who I am,” Theo sighed defeated.

“You told me once there is always a choice, just not always the easiest one. That time I thought you had learned something,” Tara said, half disappointed and half angry because she should have expected it.

“I’m —”

“You say sorry one more time, I’m taking my heart out and shoving it inside your mouth,” Tara growled. In the land of the living it would’ve sounded like a sassy threat. But down here, with Tara’s eerie voice, Theo knew it was a real possibility.

“You go back out there and use that heart,” Tara ordered, “because you took it, it’s your responsibility now. And if it hurts, and if it breaks, well, you shouldn’t have taken something you can’t handle.”

“The thing you’re suggesting, I don’t think I deserve it. I know he deserves better, and I know I deserve far worse,” Theo insisted.

“MY HEART deserves better than to rot inside the shell of a poor excuse of a barely human being!” Tara spat, her decomposing face mere millimeters from Theo’s. _Barely human_. Those words hurt more than anything, reminded him of his lowest point. And Theo knew Tara knew that.

“Alright, you win! I don’t know why, I don’t know why you look out for me after what I did to you, but you win. I will use it, or at least I’ll try,” Theo promised at last.

“Use that heart, Theo,” Tara commanded one more time, “or you will be right back here with me and I’ll take it back permanently. I don’t guarantee you’ll wake up next time.”

 

Theo hit his head with the roof of his truck when he woke up with a jolt. He had gotten used to the floor and inflatable mattresses at the houses of the McCall’s pack, but after his talk with Mason, Theo had decided to go back to a place where he felt in control at least for one night. He cursed at the pain and rubbed his forehead.

His truck was parked on the Hewitt’s driveway, where he couldn’t be arrested for sleeping in his car. Theo looked up to the house and stared at the window of the room where Liam, Mason and Corey slept. He was having feelings he wasn’t ready to face, and he didn’t know how much longer he could put them off.

 

Theo and Liam were in charge of getting the food the following day. By now Theo knew the task was not assigned randomly, and that Mason and Corey were probably trying to get the two of them to talk.

“What’s up with you? You haven’t said a word all day,” Liam asked him as he picked up the chocolate bars Mason liked best from a shelf at the convenience store.

“Nothing,” Theo grunted, grabbing a handful of the gummy bears Cody liked.

“Are you having nightmares again?” Liam inquired.

 _He knows me so well_ , Theo thought and he knew his heart rate was enough answer for the young wolf.

“You should’ve come back up with us,” Liam told him, “I would’ve gone down there with you again.”

“Why?” Theo asked.

“To bring you back?” Liam replied, confused by the question, “why else?”

“Why do you want to save me from my sister? You know I deserve what goes on down there,” Theo clarified, getting increasingly angry with the conversation.

“I told you you don’t and I know you heard me,” Liam replied defiantly.

“Why do you keep saying that? You know the things I did!” Theo wanted to scream at Liam, but he figured it wouldn’t be a good idea to advertise the things he did to the still wary population of Beacon Hills.

“I know what it’s like to fuck up,” Liam replied, his voice soft and vulnerable.

“Trashing your coach’s car is a far cry from murdering your sister,” Theo hissed.

“But I know what it’s like to look for redemption and I know you’re working hard to do better,” Liam insisted.

“Do you think it’s possible for me? Do you think it’s something I can have?” Theo was going for sarcastic but it came out wavering and vulnerable. He hated his voice for betraying him like that.

“I truly do. I’ve seen it, and I know you have too. Scott told me what you said to him, about Deucalion and the twins,” Liam confessed, “Peter has come around too, for Malia.”

There was a question lingering in the air, an unspoken plea Theo could hear in the silence. _Would you come around for me?_ The question was there, in Liam’s wide eyes. Theo’s heart is pounding inside his chest. He could almost hear Tara hissing in his ear. _Use it, use it_.

Theo wanted to say something, he wanted to with all his might, but he didn’t. He just squeezed Corey’s gummy bears tighter in his hand and headed to the cashier.

“Come on,” he said, “Mason and Corey are waiting.”

Liam sighed in disappointment but followed Theo without saying a word. _Coward!_ Tara’s voice rang in Theo’s ears.

 

Liam became somewhat distant after that day. He was still friendly, but he kept his distance. Mason noticed instantly and kept looking at Theo with sheer disapproval. Nobody said anything to him, though. But Theo was sure the rest of the pack knew what was up. Sometimes during meetings, Malia stared at him with an annoyed look. Like she wanted both to smack Theo on the face and smack herself for rooting for him and Liam.

Theo became fearful of falling asleep. Every night he feared that would be the night when he found himself back at the morgue, only he wouldn’t wake up this time. A week later he drove around aimlessly around town trying to clear his head until he finally stopped outside Mason’s house. He’d tried to start conversation with Liam but whenever it came remotely close to getting personal, Liam shut him down, clearly not eager to make himself vulnerable again. It was his turn, Theo knew, to be vulnerable, only he didn’t know how. He had been hardwired, by the Dread Doctors, by life and by himself, to never show vulnerability. But he knew he had to now.

With a long sigh he started the car and drove away. What he needed to do required planning, and if there was one thing he was good at, it was coming up with a good plan. And whatever that turned out to be, he promised himself something, he would make his sister proud.

 

Theo was back at the Hewitt’s that afternoon. Mason’s parents informed him they were all at the Sheriff’s house, regrouping and keeping up with the incipient reconstruction of Beacon Hills. Theo sighed. Stilinski’s house was certainly a worse place to do what he wanted to do than Mason’s, but he supposed it only made it more noteworthy.

Theo was received with a scowl when he knocked on the Stilinskis' door.

“I knew we couldn’t be rid of you that easily,” Stiles said, but didn’t make an attempt to stop Theo from coming inside.

“Hello, Stiles, nice to see you too,” Theo replied, his voice filled with sarcastic cheerfulness.

“We were discussing what to do with Edgar’s family. They are six of them, and their house was burned to the ground,” Scott told him in an effort to placate both of them.

“Before we do that, there is something I want to say,” Theo said.

“Did you kill someone?” Malia asked.

“Or tortured?” Stiles added.

“Or kidnapped?” Malia continued.

“Guys, please,” Scott asked, “what do you want to say, Theo?”

This was it. Theo took a deep breath in an effort to steady himself. His eyes looked for Liam’s, and he found him sitting on the arm of Stiles’ couch, watching him with wary and expectant eyes.

“Liam,” Theo said at last after clearing his throat. The young beta opened his eyes wide in alarm. “I don’t even know how to start saying this, because I know the answer most likely will be no, and because I’m not used to putting myself out there and be, you know …” Theo waved his hand in an effort to convey the word “vulnerable” without actually saying it out loud. He clearly didn’t so he took another breath and carried on.

“The point is I — I’m not sure you’re right about redemption being possible for me. Mostly, I’m sure you’re not. But I want to try — for you. And for me too. I want to do better, I want to _be_ better and I want you to be proud of me. I can’t promise you I’ll succeed but I promise you I will try my best.”

Silence stretched in the room. The pack's eyes darted between Liam and Theo and Theo wished a hole opened up below him and his sister pulled him back to Hell to put him out of his misery.

“And what is the question?” Liam asked at last.

“I’m sorry?”

“You said you knew the answer would most likely be no, but I didn’t hear a question,” Liam elaborated.

“I think it was implicit,” Theo argued.

“I don’t think it was,” Liam replied cheekily. Now the kid was just being a little shit. Theo huffed. But that was what he liked about him, wasn’t it? Looking around him, Theo noticed the pack was waiting for him to rise to the challenge.

“Fine,” he grunted and walked the distance between them so he could cup Liam’s face and smash his lips against his. Liam sat there immobile for a few seconds, too startled to react one way or the other, but an instant later he was reciprocating the kiss. Theo’s heart was beating like it wanted to burst out of his chest, but from the sound of it, Liam’s was doing the exact same thing so it was okay. When they finally broke apart to take a breath, they were both flustered and red-faced. Liam looked around awkwardly, a smile creeping on his face.

“Woo,” Liam exclaimed.

“That good?” Theo chuckled

“I had been waiting for a long time for that,” Liam admitted.

“You could’ve done something, you know,” Theo told him.

“Not until you believed there’s still hope for you,” Liam replied.

“I’m still not sure there is, but I want to find out. With you by my side, preferably,” Theo said and Liam responded by capturing his lips once more. Behind him, he could hear Malia making gagging noises, but Theo couldn't care less. Somehow, he knew the pack had given his approval and he realized everything he’d been looking for, a pack, acceptance, a place where to belong, could’ve been there for him if he had just asked for it honestly. He regretted the way he went about things, and everything he did, but he vowed to make sure having a beating heart in his chest would be worth something.

 

That night Theo didn’t go to the morgue, but rather to the bridge where he watched his sister die. The place was deserted and there was no sound but the water running under the bridge. He wasn’t alone for long, though, as Tara walked up to the middle of the bridge to join him.

“Theo,” she said. Theo took a few seconds to look at her. She looked the age she would be if he hadn’t killed her, but she didn’t look dead or decomposing, but rather radiant as if she had just gotten ready for a date.

“Tara,” Theo said in awe, “fancy seeing you here.”

“You’re using my heart,” Tara said, and for the first time, it didn’t sound like an accusation.

“I’m using it. It’s scary as hell, but I am,” Theo agreed.

“Happy you’re not just carrying it around,” Tara noted.

“We’re not in the morgue,” Theo said dumbly. Tara shrugged.

“I guess I found peace,” she answered.

“Nothing changes the things I did,” Theo said.

“It’s different, knowing your heart is no longer being worn by a mindless killer but by a man who saves lives, even if he does it reluctantly at times. It lets me rest in peace," Tara explained. "It's also nice to see traces of the boy I once knew."

“I’ll make it worth it, Tara, I’ll keep a list. I’ll stay with Scott’s pack and save as many lives as I took. Twice as many,” he promised.

“The future is too uncertain to promise that,” Tara chuckled, “but do your best.”

“I will.”

“See you, Theo. I hope not so soon,” Tara said at last, taking Theo’s hand, giving it a light squeeze and letting go of it before walking away and leaving Theo alone with his thoughts on the bridge.

Theo didn’t know it yet, but he would see his sister again at different moments of his life. When he’s in the hospital for a week after saving a scared omega from some nasty hunters, when he drinks himself unconscious after Liam proposes to him and he runs away in a fit of panic, when Liam almost dies taking an arrow for him, and when Theo finally dies, Tara is there to receive him. But he would never see the inside of the morgue again, at least not in his dreams. When Theo woke up that first night, Liam wrapped around him like a koala-octopus hybrid, he could almost swear he heard his sister whisper in his ear,  _Do your best_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter sort of became fluffy at the end and it was hard for me not to let it fall into rom-com territory.
> 
> I have mixed feelings about Theo's redemption. On one hand the things he did were unforgivable and he shouldn't be let off the hook easily, but on the other hand, it doesn't sit well with me that manipulated abused TEENS don't get a shot at redemption. It's one thing when it's grown-ass adults like Gerard and Monroe, but if the show gave even Peter and Deucalion a chance at being redeemed, I think every single abused teenager in the show, from Isaac Lahey and the twins to Theo and Nolan, should get one too.
> 
> I'm still on the fence about Gabe, though, because so far I haven't seen a shred of humanity in him, and he doesn't have the excuse of being manipulated and tortured for years by psychopathic doctors, he's just a comfortable kid with a comfortable life that chose violence and being a mindless little soldier. Unless the finale proves me wrong.
> 
> Anyways, this was the last chapter. Let me know what you think of this story! I hope you liked it. I'm off to see the finale now (and cry).

**Author's Note:**

> I have a hell of a lot of ideas for _Teen Wolf_ fics sitting in the inkwell and it turns out the first one I complete and post is right on the day the show is over. :( And funnily enough, I wrote it all in the span of a few hours today because I just needed to put the ideas swirling in my brain into words.
> 
> I hope you liked it. Let me know what you think! :D


End file.
